Associate
- Joined
- 7 Mar 2025
- Posts
- 63
- Location
- Manchester
What a time to be alive when buying a MacBook is more economical than buying a Raspberry Pi
The MacBook Neo is 499 with education pricing, 599 without
Raspberry PI 500 plus is 394! Just for the unit.
96 quid for the Raspberry PI monitor
12 quid for the PSU
and a fiver for the mini HDMI to HDMI cable
Total 505. It's another 12 quid for another PSU for the monitor, so you aren't hobbled by the 60% brightness
Another tenner for the mouse.
Whilst the MacBook screen is smaller (13", vs 15.6), the aspect ratio is much more suited to retro gaming, being 16:10 rather than 16:9
It has far better resolution, 2408 x 1506 compared to 1920 x 1080, and the luminance is doubled (500 nits vs 250 nits [when plugged into it's own PSU!!]
Not forgetting the CPU and GPU in the MacBook obliterates the Raspberry PI
As does the SSD speed.
The construction is metal compared to plastic
Even if you were to pay full price for the NEO compared to the education price, it's STILL WORTH IT, with all those upgrades.
I say this as I wanted to upgrade my pi 400. But when I checked the prices, I was floored.
They have be joking.
If you want to get into retro gaming, then quite simply, there is no better option on the market.
Can't believe in 2026, that recommending Apple is the more economical option to get into retro gaming!!
I wonder what the odds on that would have been a few years ago.
The MacBook Neo is 499 with education pricing, 599 without
Raspberry PI 500 plus is 394! Just for the unit.
96 quid for the Raspberry PI monitor
12 quid for the PSU
and a fiver for the mini HDMI to HDMI cable
Total 505. It's another 12 quid for another PSU for the monitor, so you aren't hobbled by the 60% brightness
Another tenner for the mouse.
Whilst the MacBook screen is smaller (13", vs 15.6), the aspect ratio is much more suited to retro gaming, being 16:10 rather than 16:9
It has far better resolution, 2408 x 1506 compared to 1920 x 1080, and the luminance is doubled (500 nits vs 250 nits [when plugged into it's own PSU!!]
Not forgetting the CPU and GPU in the MacBook obliterates the Raspberry PI
As does the SSD speed.
The construction is metal compared to plastic
Even if you were to pay full price for the NEO compared to the education price, it's STILL WORTH IT, with all those upgrades.
I say this as I wanted to upgrade my pi 400. But when I checked the prices, I was floored.
They have be joking.
If you want to get into retro gaming, then quite simply, there is no better option on the market.
Can't believe in 2026, that recommending Apple is the more economical option to get into retro gaming!!
I wonder what the odds on that would have been a few years ago.
